As long as we care

During the past two weeks or so I've been reading these two novels by Fitzgerald for a literature exam, where I'm supposed to analyze the themes of the books. Well, don't know about how I'll get through the exam, but here's a theme analysis for you.

There's a lot of hate in the world, a lot of anger and bitterness. However, there's a force even worse than those; indifference. Towards your spouse, your family, the youngster who keeps getting in trouble all the time, the refugees who have witnessed more horrors than anyone ever should. And we close our eyes, act as if there was nothing in the space that is actually occupied by another human being, and walk away. 

It's unfair, it's cruel but above all it is sad to see, or even read, when someone who used to look at the other with the sparks of their soul now stares blankly ahead, barely acknowledging. How someone can turn from a lover to a stranger, a ghost while still alive. The most painful hit comes in the form of not caring, and when that flame dies out, something is lost for good.

And I admit, I get it on some level. I remember wishing I could just not care, when something has been hurtful or unpleasant to deal with. But in the end I don't want to, since it would be losing something. Whether the indifference is towards yourself or others, the consequence is the still same.

As long as we feel something, there's still hope. The scary thing is that this is a phenomenon present in our daily lives and it's way too easy to look to the other direction. Schools suffer from it when bullying takes the form of intentional indifference, so do work places and even the world of politics, in my opinion. As for schools, it is one lethal disease that can haunt you behind every corner. Maybe coming from a home where caring isn't a priority, to a school where the teacher sees you just as a trouble during a class instead of a human being, where other kids treat you like crap, the pressure from it all is just too much for anyone to handle. Wanna make an attempt at solving the issue of social exclusion? Start caring, start looking, start listening. 

That's where the book ended, not giving me any reassurance that it might not be the end of it after all. But I still believe, since I believe in the world, that we might be able to pick ourselves or each other up from the rock bottom, and start to care again. If we couldn't, this would be a pretty damned dark place, wouldn't it?